WeaponsIt's better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it

GUN OF THE WEEK By Bob WalshThe Gun of the Week this time around is the Walter P-22 pistol.This little .22 pistol is a good example of modern design.It has a synthetic lower end with different back straps available to help make it fit different sized hands. It uses a ten round magazine.The gun is so common now that there is actually a company making a good quality aftermarket magazine for this weapon for significantly less money than the factory original product.The pistol comes in a short barrel version with a 3.4 inch barrel and a target version with a 5 inch barrel.They are hammer fired with a single-action double-action layout.The gun can be carried cocked and locked or with the hammer down. They are built with the hateful, lawyer-inspired magazine safety.I find the pistol to be just big enough to grip comfortably and effectively without being overly large.It weighs only 17 ounces with an empty magazine.I own two of these.I liked mine so well that when a local gun store ran a very serious sale on them I snagged a second one.I find that mine feed pretty much any sort of .22 ammo without complaint, but the gun does not cycle reliably with most standard velocity ammo.My only real complaint about them is reassembly after field stripping is a bitch due to the non-captive recoil spring assembly.There is an aftermarket captive recoil spring assembly available or you could just do what I did and cross-drill the recoil spring guides and use a bent paper clip to retain the spring during reassembly.It even makes a nice handle for the assembly once you get used to it.